History 470: Traditional China
Fall 2005
Tue. & Th. 12:45-2:00 pm
Pawling 101
Instructor: Dr. Liyan
Liu
Office: Pawling 205
Office Hours: M&W 12:00-1:30 pm, or by appointment
Office Phone: 863-7092
E-mail: liyan_liu@georgetowncollege.edu
Course Description: This course provides the student with
an overview of Chinese history before modern times. It
traces the growth of Chinese civilization from its prehistorical genesis until about the 19th century. It will
explore the dominant philosophical and religious traditions,
the nature of political culture and social structure of
traditional China through a variety of sources. It will also
look at groups and individuals outside of the central power
structure, and at longer socio-economic trends which
transcended dynastic changes. The class meetings will
consist of lectures, video tapes, and discussions of the
readings.
Course Objectives:
1) To gain an understanding of historical processes
and what shapes them -- the interplay of events, the
transitions between historical periods, the particular
Chinese solutions to the universal problems of livelihood,
power, and self-fulfillment, and the logic of the dominant
cultural patterns which emerged from those solutions.
2) To expose students to a culture significantly
different from their own as a way to understand and
appreciate human diversity, and as a way to see the self in
the mirror of others. The challenge is multiple:
overcoming barriers of time, space, culture, and language
to find meaning; learning that time, space and language are
relative, not fixed, entities; learning their “logic.”
3) To develop the reading, thinking, listening and
writing skills necessary to accomplish the above: How to
read and listen to the voices on the page as well as in the
classroom, how to ask questions and compose an essay or
an argument (a set of related thoughts with a beginning and
a conclusion and a point).
Reading:
The following books are required for this course and can be
obtained from the Georgetown College Book Store:
1. Charles Hucker: China’s Imperial Past: An introduction
to Chinese history and culture
2. Arthur Waley: Three Ways of thought in Ancient China
3. John Wills, Jr. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese
History
4. Jacques Gernet: Daily life in China, on the eve of the
Mongol invasion, 1250-1276
5. Jonathan Spence: Emperor of China: Self Portrait of
Kang-His
Throughout the semester I may also be handing out brief
selections to supplement or replace textbook readings.
Grading:
Five Presentations and five short papers:
50%
Term paper:
20%
Project (performance of short ancient dramas) 15%
In-class Learning and Participation:
15%
Total:
100%
In-class Learning:
Students will be evaluated on their preparation for class
discussion and their actual learning during each period.
Your willingness to interact with the ideas in the readings
and videos, as well as learn from one another, will make
this component of your learning one-fifth of your
semester’s work. Attendance in discussion groups is
mandatory. Occasionally there will be discussion questions
to prepare. That means each student will be responsible for
writing a set of 3-5 questions to both structure and
stimulate discussion of reading for that class. The
questions should help create conversations about the
readings and create connections between previous readings
and discussions. If a question can be answered in a phrase
or just one sentence then re-work it so that it can lead to a
conversation. The student(s) writing the questions should
think about how the question might be answered. If several
answers are possible, is there a follow-up question which
can draw out the differences in the responses?
Participation:
This course will consist of a large portion of
discussions. Students must complete all assigned readings
by class time and must be prepared to discuss those
readings. Energetic, frequent, and thoughtful participation
in discussion is a vital element of this course and
constitutes a significant portion of your grade. In
emergencies (sickness, accident, family or personal crises),
please notify me promptly.
Presentations and short papers:
Separate handout will explain these in more detail.
Term paper:
The term paper will be on a topic of your choosing about
China before 1800. Again you need an argument or thesis,
title and you must give citations and a bibliography. The
paper should be 5-7 pages long. It will be due during
Final’s Week.
Course Schedule:
Please note that some changes may be made in the content
and sequence of lectures as the course progresses.
8/30
Introduction: Reflections on the Study of
Chinese History
9/1
China: Geographic Setting and Racial
Origins
Readings: Hucker:
Introduction; Wills: Yu (pgs. 3-10)
9/6
Prehistory and the First Dynasties: Hsia/Xia
(2000?-1766? BC) and
Shang (1766?-1027? BC)
Readings: Hucker: p. 21-30; began to read
Waley: Three Ways of thought in Ancient China
9/8
Early China: The Chou/Zhou (1122?-221
BC) Dynasty
Readings: Hucker: p. 30-40;
Wills: Confucius; Waley: Three Ways of thought in
Ancient China
9/13
Classical China (1): The Golden Age of
Chinese Thought
Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and
Other Schools
Readings: Hucker: p. 69-95; Waley: Three
Ways of thought in Ancient China
9/15
Presentation I
9/20
Classical China (2): Literature and Art
Book of Poetry
Readings: Hucker: p. 98-117
9/22
First Empire
The Ch'in/Qin ( 221-206 BC) Dynasty: The
Readings: Hucker: p. 41-47; Wills: The First
Emperor of Qin
9/27
The Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)
Readings: Hucker: p. 122-133, 221-228,
Chapter 6-8;Wills: Sima Qian
9/29
The Period of Disunity
The Six Dynasties (220-589): The Period of
Disunion and Challenges to the Imperial System
Readings: Hucker: p. 133-137, Chapter 6 &
7; Wills: Zhuge Liang
10/4
Presentation II
10/6
The Sui Dynasty (589-618) and Reunification
of the Empire
Readings: Hucker: p. 137-139, Chapter 6 &
7; began to read Gernet: Daily life in China
10/11,13
Great Age
The T’ang/Tang Dynasty (618-907): The
Readings: Hucker: p. 139-148, 229-264,
Wills: Empress Wu; Gernet: Daily life in China
10/18,20
Tang Poetry & Buddhism
Readings: Hucker: p. 229-255; Wills: Hui
NengOn-line: Li Bo & Du Fu; Gernet: Daily life in China
Video Tape: China’s Cosmopolitan Age: The
Tang
10/25
Presentation III
10/27
The Sung/Song Dynasty (960-1279): Political
Weakness and Cultural Splendor
Readings: Hucker: p. 267-279, Chapter 11-14;
Gernet: Daily life in China; Wills: Yue Fei
11/1
Video Tape: China-The Age of Maturity
Project rehearsal
11/3
Neo-Confucianism
Readings: On-line: Zhu Xi; Gernet: Daily life in
China
11/8
Presentation IV & Discussion on Gernet: Daily
life in China
11/10, 15
The Non-Chinese Dynasties
Readings: Hucker: p. 279-287, Chapter 11-14;
began to read Spence: Emperor of China
Video Tape: China-Under the Mongols
11/17,22
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644): The
Restitution of Chinese Rule (11/24 Thanksgiving holiday,
no class)
Readings: Hucker: p. 287-294, Chapter 11-14;
Spence: Emperor of China; Wills: Wang Yangming
11/24
Presentation V
11/29,12/1
The Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1911): China
Under Manchu Rule
Hucker: p. 294-302, Chapter 11-14 Spence:
Emperor of China
Video Tape: China-The Manchu Rule
12/6
Discussion on Spence: Emperor of China
12/8
An Overall Review
Final Paper Due